


On The Bright Side

by Twice_before_Friday



Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [4]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Cages, Drowning, Gen, Stakeout, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twice_before_Friday/pseuds/Twice_before_Friday
Summary: Prompt No 4. RUNNING OUT OF TIMECaged| Buried Alive | Collapsed BuildingGil quietly calls it in, providing descriptions of the men, their current location and which way they're heading, and then follows in Malcolm's wake, arriving at the waterfront just in time to see one of the beefy goons dragging Malcolm on board, a meaty hand slapped over the kid's mouth to keep him from calling out, blood gushing from Malcolm's nose over the man's skin.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright
Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947595
Comments: 18
Kudos: 56
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	On The Bright Side

After weeks of working a joint case with the FBI, they're finally ready to raid the warehouse at the port. The international human trafficking ring they've been tracking has been gaining momentum around the world, developing quite the empire by destroying lives and ripping apart families.

It stops tonight.

More than a dozen federal agents and even more of NYPD’s finest — officers and SWAT alike — are ready to breach the warehouse where the suspected leader of the organization is expected to make an appearance, along with an entourage of highly armed men that travel with him wherever he goes. 

No one on the task force is expecting this to go down without bloodshed.

Malcolm and Gil are stationed a little farther back from the teams that will be initially breaching the building. The FBI hadn't been keen on having Bright working the case in the first place, and Gil had to promise to keep him on a short leash and out of the fray in order to even allow him access to the scene. It pisses Gil off to no end, but this case is bigger than hurt feelings and unfounded prejudices, and he and Malcolm agreed to follow whatever guidelines the FBI insisted on in order to bring this criminal enterprise to an end.

And so they're safely back and out of the FBI’s hair, hanging tight in Gil's car. But then Malcolm catches sight of a group of men exiting a hidden service tunnel nearly half a mile from the warehouse, not far from where they're parked.

"That's our guy," Malcolm says to Gil, pointing out the movement. "Call it in, I'll follow them and see where they're going."

"Bright. No," Gil warns with a heated whisper, but it's too late, Malcolm is out of the car, leaving the door cracked open to avoid drawing the attention of their suspects by slamming it closed. "Shit." 

Gil quietly calls it in, providing descriptions of the men, their current location and which way they're heading, and then follows in Malcolm's wake, arriving at the waterfront just in time to see one of the beefy goons dragging Malcolm on board, a meaty hand slapped over the kid's mouth to keep him from calling out, blood gushing from Malcolm's nose over the man's skin.

Gil pulls his gun and makes his way to the boat, sneaking on after the last of the group has boarded and moved inside, making it on board just seconds before the boat pulls off into the night.

He quietly makes his way around the cabin to the back of the boat, his heart pounding in his chest as he hears the unmistakable sounds of a fist striking a body, followed closely by Malcolm's pained grunts. Gil peeks around back of the boat and finds four large, well-armed men surrounding the kid, one of whom is holding Malcolm's arms behind his back while the other three take shots at his stomach, chest, and face.

"We got a stowaway!" the man holding Malcolm yells as he catches sight of Gil. Suddenly bullets are flying his direction as the other three men whip around and start shooting.

Gil has to duck back behind the cabin of the boat to avoid the spray of bullets, nearly losing his balance as the boat picks up speed. The gunshots slow enough that Gil can hear Malcolm struggling and the sound of metal clanging, and he risks peeking his head out to see three of the men shoving Malcolm into a metal cage — a crab trap, if he had to guess — locking him in with a small padlock.

Gil's stomach plummets as he realizes what's about to happen.

Right as Gil raises his gun and steps out from his cover, pulling the trigger to incapacitate the one man who is still firing at him, the other three grab hold of the cage and toss it overboard.

Gil doesn't even stop to think. 

He runs the fifteen feet or so to the end of the boat, praying the bullets that come flying his way miss their mark, and launches himself off the edge. By the time he surfaces, he's just barely able to catch sight of the top corner of the cage as it dips below the water.

Knowing he doesn't even have time to holster his gun, Gil drops it to find its resting place amongst the sludge and debris that lies below. Then he dives beneath the surface and prays to God that he catches hold of the cage before it falls away, because it's too dark for him to see a damn thing. Gil knows that if he doesn't find Malcolm on his first try, the kid _will_ die. 

The fear builds and bubbles in Gil's chest, threatening to break free and consume him entirely with every second that passes, every frantic wave of his arms in front of him that meets only water instead of the hard metal he's so anxioud to find. He doesn't know if he's even in the right area — if he should be swimming farther out or if he's already passed where Malcolm is sinking to an early grave, doesn't know if the cage would have already sent Malcolm plummeting to the floor below or if it's sinking slowly.

He's starting to panic. Visions of Malcolm's face float before his eyes, fighting to hold his breath before eventually losing the battle and sucking in a lungful of the murky water, choking and sputtering and dying because Gil isn't fast enough. But then he damn near collides with the cage, startling him so badly that he lets out a puff of the precious air in his lungs before wrapping his fingers around the metal and kicking his feet as hard as he possibly can, straining to pull the heavy metal to the surface of the water.

The cage is even heavier than Gil would have expected and it takes all of Gil's strength just to get it to the surface. Unfortunately, there's no hope of him pulling it above the water line.

Malcolm seems to understand what's happening, though, and presses his mouth to the top of the cage, reaching for the fresh air that's _so close_ , but just out of reach. Gil sucks in a breath and dives beneath the water, following the line of the cage until he gets underneath and pushes up with all of his strength, praying it's enough for Malcolm to get enough air to keep going.

He stays down as long as he can until he knows he needs to surface, keeping a hold on the cage as he breaks through. There's enough light from the nearly-full moon that Gil expects to see Malcolm's face at the top of the cage again, but there's no sign of the kid, and Gil's heart nearly stops at the thought that he took too long, that he didn't get the cage above the waterline in time.

"Bright!" He puffs, breathless with exhaustion already. "Malcolm!"

The cage jerks in his hands, nearly causing him to lose his grip. Gil readies himself to dive back under and try again when Malcolm breaks the surface of the water beside him, startling Gil so badly that he really _does_ lose his grip this time, the metal slipping free of his hands.

"What?" Gil sputters, shocked to see Malcolm outside of the cage that Gil was sure was about to become his coffin.

Malcolm heaves in a few deep breaths before he says, "Lock picking kit. Never go on a stakeout with one."

Gil shakes his head in disbelief, but he's just so damn pleased to see the kid that he can't even find a response. So, he pulls the kid into an awkward hug as they tread water, offering a prayer of thanks to the heavens above for sparing his life.

"Thanks, Gil," Malcolm says as he pulls away, arms waving casually back and forth in the water like he wasn't just beaten and tossed overboard in a cage, like he didn't just almost die. "That breath of air gave me enough time to pick the lock. I wouldn't have made it without you."

"How about instead of thanking me," Gil says firmly, leaning back to let himself float for a bit, giving his strained muscles a break, "you stop running off on your own."

"I can't make any promises, but I'll try." Malcolm chuckles quietly. "On the bright side, I slipped my phone into the big guy's coat pocket. We can track it and find them."

Gil can already hear the police chopper heading their way and knows that rescue won't take long. And because of Malcolm's stupid stunt, they'll be able to track down the head of the human trafficking operation.

They've had cases that have ended worse, he supposes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, as always, to KateSamantha for the beta


End file.
